Scott Hansen

Is my hero. He's the modern triple threat--fantastic graphic designer, super talented musician, and superb blogger.

First about his graphic design, a project called ISO50, it beautifully exploits 60's and 70's color palettes, and a spirit of optimistic internationalism, with nods to iconic logos (think early PBS, and TWA). It's brilliant and vibrant and daring where so many other contemporary designers seem to be meddling in some middle ground between ironic/cute/absurdest (think any series of Urban Outfitters shirts, or a lot of the stuff on Pokito [which don't get me wrong, lots of which I do like!]). I love how he seems to so earnestly look forward and backward, and I hate to tie it all back to Deluxa, but it taps into the whole idea of reuse and repurposing, because I'm pretty damn positive that hanging one of Hansen's posters will look a million times better over a vintage orange couch (see previous post) than over any couch you'd ever find at a Jennifer Convertibles. Here's some pieces that I'm particularly enamored with, but really all of his work is pretty stellar.


Yeah, I know, you just saw the awesomeness of those handful of pieces and was all like, "What, and that guy does music too!??!!" For reals. Here's what his latest full length, "Past is Prologue" looks like:


Gorgeous, right? His music project is called Tycho, and its great, and I play it in the store all the time. Something between Ulrich Schnauss and Boards of Canada. Its accessible and I think still carries that sense of optimism that's manifested in Hansen's visual work; its easy to get lost in both the intricacies of the ebb and flow of the individual elements, or also to get lost in the overall waves of sound. And for me, coming from California, it somehow captures something extraordinarily left coast, that I don't think I could have appreciated unless I'd moved away from it. A friend Will Joines, who also directed Elika's "Let Down" video (a recent but assured all-time fave), directed this video of Tycho's "Dictaphone's Lament".



I know I know, so now you're like, and this guy BLOGS TOO?!?! Yes, and it is awesome. Tons of great design info, vintage stuff, music stuff. The bulk of my starred RSS folder are his posts. Follow the action here, and Scott Hansen will become your hero too.

Be sure to visit each of his sites as well, as they are all beautifully designed and delightful, ISO50, Tycho, MySpace, Shop and Blog.